


Three Halloweens With Madzie

by Fluxx



Series: The Spook Cruise, 2017 [15]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Halloween, Madzie Deserves Nice Things, Malec
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-11
Updated: 2017-11-11
Packaged: 2019-02-01 00:03:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12692901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fluxx/pseuds/Fluxx
Summary: Madzie has had quite the varied Halloween experiences over the years! Some have been more somber than others, but each one special in their own ways. Looking back on them, Madzie is able to enjoy them all for what they are - fond, cherished memories of the people who mean the most to her.Prompt response for The Spook Cruise 2017:Madzie +
 Three Halloweens.Submit a prompt for The Spook Cruise!





	Three Halloweens With Madzie

Madzie stared quietly out her window, her pig-tailed head just barely obscured from view by the thin, sheer curtain. Far below, children of all shapes and sizes ran up and down the usually quiet Brooklyn street, adorned in a myriad of colors and accessories. Regardless of their garb, each and every one of them grasped in their tiny hands a small bucket, or in some cases a long pillowcase - either way, Madzie knew full well by now what tiny treasures the children claimed door-to-door.

_Candy!_

“Get away from the window, dear.”

The little girl immediately whirled, her forlorn gaze quickly finding the woman leaning against her door. She offered not a word to her Nana, but nor did she need to, the woman offering her a knowing sigh and nodding towards the window. “Draw the curtain,” her Nana instructed, and Madzie wordlessly obeyed, wriggling her little fingers through the air above her. Small, delicate tendrils of sunshine-yellow magic curled up towards the window, and as if urged by the hush of a ghosts’s sigh the opaque inner curtain slid easily along the cross-bar, blocking out the rest of the bustling evening beyond.

“I’m sorry, Nana,” came Madzie’s gentle whisper as she turned away from the window. Their duties done, her hands clasped low before her, idly fiddling with each other in quiet anxiety.

Iris eyed the child thoughtfully, then crossed the room to settle into one of her antique armchairs, its patterned upholstery faded with age and its carved wood lining in desperate need of fresh polish. She considered this at a distance, her finger running along the smooth bumps while she addressed her daughter. “I understand, Madzie. It is a difficult thing to miss out on this very unique holiday. But, you must understand - it is too risky.” The old warlock paused, looking up to meet Madzie’s eyes directly. “…If they knew about you, they’d take you away from me, you understand?”

Quietly, the little girl nodded. This single truth was perhaps the first thing she’d ever learned, the idea internalized to a nearly debilitating degree: the Clave hates Nana, and does not want Nana to have Madzie.

Her Nana smiled at her. “Good girl,” she replied, then lifted her hand, turning her fingers over and over upon themselves.

Madzie looked up as a fluffy, periwinkle cloud conjured before her, just a foot or so above her head. Small, dark shapes manifested behind the smokey color, their familiar silhouettes enough to send a hopeful gleam sparkling across Madzie’s round face. To her delight, the cloud at last began to fade, and when it did it granted her momentary wish, a small trove of treats and trinkets raining down all around her.

Iris watched the excited child with a fond gleam in her eye, her hand lowering back to the armrest. “Happy Halloween, my child.” 

* * *

Catarina rose a brow at the little girl in her lap, puzzling over the child’s peculiar confession. “You don’t know? Haven’t you done this before?” Belatedly, she realized the unintended harshness of her remark, watching Madzie’s expression fall before her very eyes. “Hey, hey, it’s alright,” she quickly replied, her hand moving to comfortingly stroke Madzie’s back. “It’s not your fault. Your Nana never let you?”

Madzie shook her head, then adjusted in Catarina’s lap, leaning over to curl up along the older warlock’s torso. “Said it was dangerous,” she quietly explained. “The Clave would take me away.”

“Well  _that’s_  a crock of—” Catarina broke off, reconsidering her words, then replaced her crude remark with a thin smile. “You don’t have to worry about that anymore, Madzie. You’re with me now, and no power in this world or the next - not even the Clave - can steal you away from me, you hear?” She summoned Madzie’s face with a light tap of the little girl’s nose, then smirked, “Even that ol’ stooge Magnus would be hard-pressed to do anything about it.”

A giggle brightened Madzie’s face. “But we like Magnus!”

Catarina playfully shrugged. “Usually. When he behaves.” She turned her head, regarding the small child in her arms with a long and contemplative look.  _So this will be her first **real**  Halloween, huh?_ Her fingers drew through the soft fuzz of her big hair, playing with its frantic curls between her fingertips, and her eyes slowly traced down to the scarf around Madzie’s neck. A devious grin pulled across Catarina’s lips. “I think I’ve got the perfect idea for your first Halloween costume, Madzie.”

That evening, Catarina stepped carefully down the steps to their building, Madzie’s hand tightly gripping her own. “It’s alright,” Catarina encouraged with a wide smile. “You got this, kid.”

Madzie nervously looked up at her, eyes wide and frightful. “But...” she murmured, her fingertips idly moving to the thin slits along her neck.

Catarina winked at her. “They look  _amazing_!” She looked the child head-to-toe one last time, then finished leading Madzie the rest of the way down the steps and onto the street.

Already, a swarm of kids had taken to the sidewalk, scurrying up and down the block with their buckets and pillowcases ready in-hand. Almost immediately, a small gaggle of them came to a halt at their side. Madzie turned and regarded them with a stunned horror, like a deer caught in headlights, mind swarming with a million anxieties and insecurities.

All of them were banished with a single word.

“ _Cool!!!_ ”

Madzie blinked, genuinely surprised by the boy’s compliment. All of the children were gawking at her - at her  _neck_  - but to Madzie’s immense relief their mouths had curled into rampant smiles rather than terrified screams. “R-Really... ?” she meekly whispered, at last finding enough confidence to subtly inch further out from behind Catarina.

“Yeah!” a girl eagerly agreed, her eyes finally leaving Madzie’s gills to survey the rest of her costume.

She wore a skirt of green sequins paired with a shirt of blue, a pair of glittery seafoam gel sandals dressing her feet. Catarina had dug out various necklaces and bracelets of pearls and other colorful, round beads, and her hair was dotted with seashell clips. Magnus had even loaned some of his makeup to the cause, expertly painting Madzie’s face in a myriad of bright, sparkling color.

An adult - presumably one of the kids’ mother - approached the group, waved over by one of the children. “Look, look!” the other boy exclaimed. “She’s a mermaid!!!”

“Wow!” the mother beamed, eyes wide. She, too, examined Madzie’s gills, and just when Madzie thought she might break into fear the woman instead looked to Catarina with immense awe. “They look so  _realistic_! How did you... ?”

Catarina offered her a wink. “Stage prosthetics,” she replied simply, then looked down to nod Madzie along down the street. “Come on. You ready to get some candy?”

Madzie looked up at her with the biggest grin the old warlock had ever seen. “Yes!!!”

* * *

“ _The Shining_?”

“Dude, we just watched that one last week!”

“Okay, well how about  _Sixth Sense_?”

“I don’t know, Max... I’m kind of over Hollywood’s whole ‘I see dead people!’ nonsense. They  _never_  get it right!”

“Well, Madz, that eliminates about half the selection. Why don’t  _you_  pick something?”

“ _Carrie_?”

“Which one?”

Madzie rolled her eyes at the Shadowhunter boy. “ _Please_. Like you have to ask?”

Rafael smirked, pulling out the disc for the 1976 version. “ _Carrie_  it is!”

Max’s eyes took on a rare, excited gleam. “Nice! I haven’t seen this one yet!”

“And you’re not  _going_  to!”

All three of them jumped in surprise as the DVD suddenly disappeared from Rafael’s hands. Immediately, their eyes snapped to the boys’ bedroom door. They were hardly surprised to find Magnus glaring at them, arms crossed before his chest and the DVD caught between two long, slender fingers.

“ _Papaaaaa_!!!” Max whined, but though he very much wanted to teleport the DVD back to his brother’s hands he knew  _damn_  well not to try it.

“No!” Magnus sharply asserted. “You don’t turn 18 for another three months!”

“You don’t know that!” Max pointed out. There was no malice in his voice, only a matter-of-fact identifying of technicality. “For all we know, I could have turned 18 last month!”

It earned him an unamused glare. “You’re not witting your way out of this one, young man.” Growing a touch exasperated, he gestured towards the rest of the DVD cabinet. “Raf, don’t you have anything age-appropriate? Why don’t you kids watch  _The Nightmare Before Chrsitmas_ , or something?”

“We watched that last night, Uncle Magnus!” Madzie complained. “Plus, that’s really more of a Christmas movie than a Halloween movie, don’t you think?”

“I don’t see why it can’t be both,” Magnus indignantly insisted. He strode further into the room, his narrowed eyes examining the various titles stowed away in Rafael’s collection. “Look, there are  _plenty_  of other movies Max can watch.  _Hocus Pocus_ ,  _Casper_... what about  _Young Frankenstein_? It’s a classic! Throw that one on, and—”

“—switch back to  _Carrie_  as soon as we leave for the party,” a voice snickered from the doorway.

Magnus glared over his shoulder, wild grins breaking out across the three kids’ faces. “Aunt Cat!” Raf and Max chimed in unison, rushing over to greet her with bear-hugs. Madzie meanwhile eyed her Uncle Magnus, amused by the subtle jealousy playing across his thin features.

“You’re not helping,” he muttered, depositing the  _Carrie_  DVD back within the cabinet and stalking back towards the doorway.

“Sure I am,” Catarina shrugged, wriggling free enough from the boys’ embraces to roughly ruffle their hair. “I’m just not helping  _you_.”

Magnus sighed, turning to look at Madzie. “Don’t turn out like her. She’s absolutely  _miserable_.”

Madzie smirked at him. “ _You’re_  the one who won’t let us watch  _Carrie_. It’s just a movie!”

“An R-rated movie!” Magnus whined.

“Oh, please,” Raf chimed in with a roll of his eyes. “We see worse stuff out on the streets than what nonsense they stuff in these films.”

“So then why watch them?” Magnus groaned.

“Because it’s  _fun_ , Papa!” Max complained, scurrying away from Catarina to grab onto and hang from Magnus’s sleeves. “Come  _oonnnnn_! Please?!”

Magnus grumpily peeled the young warlock off. “Alright, alright! You’re stretching out my jacket!”

Max plopped upon the floor, beaming up at his Papa with a triumphant grin.

Magnus rolled his eyes at him, then wove his hand, a tuft of green smoke popping  _Carrie_  out from its place in the cabinet and into Madzie’s hands. “Don’t make me regret this,” he warned the three of them, bracing himself as his two boys predictably colliding into him. To his suppressed, smug glee, he felt certain the impact was at least  _twice_  as forceful as their greeting of Catarina.

“Thank you, Uncle Magnus!!!” Madzie squealed, jumping to her feet and practically pouncing the DVD player.

“Hey!” another voice yelled from the hall. “Are you two ready to go yet?!” Alec’s head poked out from behind Catarina, narrowed eyes trying his best to peer into the boys’ room to where Madzie was fussing with the entertainment center. “Wait, is that—”

“Come along, dear!” Magnus hurriedly replied, swiftly striding past Catarina to retrieve his husband and drag him away from the room. “We’ll be late for the party~!”

“What? Magnus—” The rest of Alec’s protest swiftly faded, the pair of them drifting beyond earshot.

Catarina laughed after them, then bid the kids good-bye with a wave of her hand - and resulting dump of candy upon the floor between them. “You kids have a happy Halloween.”

“Thank you!!!” the three of them chimed in unison, each of them diving to seize a handful of treats as the movie’s opening credits began to roll. “Happy Halloween!”

As Catarina pulled the door closed behind her, the three of them settled into their perches, Madzie having claimed Raf’s bed nearest the TV and the two boys each plopped into massive beanbags - green for Rafael, and blue for Max, of course. Their faces lit up beneath the glow of the TV, and Rafael turned to regard Madzie with a grin.

“So, what do you think? Best Halloween ever?”

Madzie looked to her two cousins, an uncontainable warmth consuming her whole being. She thought all the way back to her very first Halloweens with her Nana, and then her first trick-or-treating with Catarina, and all the Halloweens since, leading up to tonight’s conclusion of her month-long movie extravaganza with her cousins.

She returned Rafael’s grin with one of her own, chomping down upon a 100 Grand bar. “ _Definitely_!!!”


End file.
